


Hungry Heart

by Emma



Series: The Queen's Magicians [4]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-22
Updated: 2010-09-22
Packaged: 2017-10-12 03:06:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/120080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma/pseuds/Emma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team races to save Ianto's life… and his soul. This is <em>Cyberwoman</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The dockyard was the only occupant of a spit of land that poked out into the bay just beyond the leading edge of the most recent wave of redevelopment to hit the old Cardiff industrial sector. In a few more years, as the hunger for luxury seaside living space grew, it would be replaced by glass and steel towers with their own marinas and promenades. For now it waited, the once beautiful Victorian buildings returned to their previous glory by a trick of moonlight, rot and rust gilded into decoration.

 

Ianto saw none of it as he walked down to the small pebble beach at the end of the complex. There, a caretaker's cottage was still kept in good repair, even though the man himself was long gone and the owners hadn't bothered to replace him. He kept his senses as open as he dared, in the hope that it would give him enough warning in case of attack that he could at least give Lisa time to get away.

 

He very carefully did not ask himself what was left for her to run to.

 

A fluttering touch at the edge of his mind made him veer towards the shore. She stood just beyond the reach of the gentle waves that lapped at the pebbles. He could feel the hunger rising in her. Tamping down his need to vomit, he forced himself to consider what he could do to feed her before she went out of control.

 

"I won't take from you," she said without turning around.

 

"All right." He sat down on what was left of a concrete retaining wall. "Doctor Tanizaki will be here tomorrow."

 

"Good." She danced towards the waves, close enough to risk a burn, then danced back out of the way. "It'll be lovely to swim again."

 

Ianto studied her, trying to find any trace of the girl he had known. They had met on the first day of choir school and had been inseparable until the day she had died. By the time they were thirteen it was accepted by both families that at the appropriate time there would be a handfasting, followed by a wedding as soon as the young ones were settled in their careers. There had never been anyone else for either of them.

 

Until the night of Lisa's sixteenth birthday.

 

Pushing away the memories, he concentrated on planning. If doctor Tanizaki could help Lisa, they would need a place where he could treat her. The best place would be the Hub, but that would mean telling Jack, and Ianto wasn't sure if Jack would be willing to let the get of a rogue vampire into his home. Especially if the vampire was Elaine de Cussac.

 

"I should go," he told her. "I'll need to be in tomorrow early if I'm going to disappear in the middle of the afternoon. I'll bring Doctor Tanizaki here then go back to work until evening."

 

"All right." She walked to him, tossing back her long braids, reaching to put her hands on his shoulders as she had always done. "I love you, Ianto."

 

"I love you, Lisa," he said, and the lie was bitter on his tongue, but it was also a truth of a sort. "I love you."

 

The next day he tried to keep to his usual routines in the tourist office and the Archives, but kept finding reasons to be in the work area. He tried to make believe that it was just a need to be among the living, but he had never been very good at lying to himself. He needed to be near Jack. He needed to sense his breath, his warmth, the way his heartbeat thundered in his veins. He desperately needed his touch.

 

He couldn't exactly pinpoint the moment this thing with Jack had passed from mild flirting to… whatever it was they had now. During his sessions with Mother Katherine he had struggled to put it into words until she had laughed and told him that whatever it was would name itself in its own good time. But Ianto had always been obsessive about naming things; naming them made them real, solid, so he kept trying.

 

They hadn't been to bed yet, in any sense of the phrase; neither one seemed in a hurry to take that step. But there were long hours spent entangled in each other arms on the couch, his head over Jack's heart, as they talked about everything and anything. Or the stolen moments in Archives when they kissed until they had either to breathe or faint. Or the drives out to the country to see the stars where they had never taken their eyes off each other, and fallen asleep on a quilt thrown over the grass and kissed each other awake. Jack knew him as he was and accepted him. It was the greatest gift Ianto had ever received.

 

But now there was Lisa, his beloved Lisa who he had believed dead for so long, his first and only lover before Jack. She needed his help, and he had enough love and guilt left in him to do whatever he needed to do to help her, even if that meant losing Jack.

 

Late in the afternoon, on the pretext of restocking the pantry, he went to meet the afternoon train from London. Doctor Tanizaki was a smallish man with a marked stoop and an eager, quick manner. His excitement over Lisa made Ianto feel uneasy; the man sounded like a researcher discussing some newly discovered virus rather than a doctor concerned for his patient. But from what Lisa had been able to find, Doctor Tanizaki was the only one whose research showed promise of a cure.

 

He left Doctor Tanizaki in the caretaker's cottage and returned to the Hub after a quick stop at his favorite sweets shop. He made coffee and took a cup up to Jack, along with a plate of his favorite biscuits. His… lover's?... happy smile made him bold. Setting down the tray he pushed Jack back on his chair and pressed their mouths together. He felt Jack's arms come around him to caress his back and shoulders as their tongues tangled.

 

"And good afternoon to you too," Jack whispered when their mouths finally separated. "Will I see you tonight?"

 

"Maybe. I want to do all the shopping for Rhiannon's party tonight so I can spend the weekend here."

 

"Good plan." Jack kissed him lightly. "The weekend, then."

 

Ianto started to leave the office and then turned back. "Jack… if I ever do anything… if there's a reason…"

 

Jack looked up and the concern in his eyes nearly made Ianto's knees buckle. "What is it, Ianto?"

 

"Nothing. Never mind."

 

He left by the tourist office door, locking up behind himself and making sure all the alarms were working. By the time he reached the dockyard it was dark. He kept praying, every word he had learned from his Mum and Tad jumbled together as he invoked all the gods of his childhood. If Doctor Tanizaki had a cure, then he could ask Jack for help, explain…

 

The reek of fear and death hit him before he was even out of the car. He ran down the path as quietly as possible. The door to the cottage was wide open and light spilled out. The stench was so strong in his mind that it made him physically gag.

 

"Lisa! Lisa!"

 

"Here."

 

He turned to see standing by the water. The moonlight cast her features in copper, but she could see the blood in her lips and on her dress.

 

"Mother of God, what have you done?"

 

"He lied. There was no cure. He was working on some experiments, he said, and I was to be his first willing subject. Willing subject! What had he been doing until now, I asked. He said that to do good science sometimes one had to be willing to bend the rules." Her hands clenched. "Did he really think I would be willing to spend years as his guinea pig?"

 

"Where is he?"

 

"In the house."

 

"All right. We need to get you out of here. Elaine had to have sensed this, no matter how far away she is."

 

Suddenly she looked sick with fear. "I was so angry… oh, Ianto, I didn't think!"

 

"Go. Put on jeans, boots, jacket, like we were going camping. I'll take care of the rest."

 

When she came out, she sniffed the air experimentally. "Gasoline?"

 

"They'll think it was a tramp that came in here to sleep warm." He threw the match in and waited until he was sure the fire was strong enough. "Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

"It's six-thirty in the bloody morning, Gwen. Trying to impress the boss or something?"

 

"And a cheery bollocks to you, Owen. Rhys had to take one of the lorries to York. I drove him to work so he didn't have to leave his car in their lot. Not the greatest neighbourhood, that isn't." She pointed to the lounge. "Got some pastries on the way in. Help yourself."

 

"Coffee?" whined the doctor.

 

"You're on your own there. Ianto isn't in yet."

 

'That's weird. He's usually here by the time I get in."

 

"Everyone's entitled to oversleeping once in a while," Gwen said absently as she scanned through what seemed to Owen like digitized microfilm. "Make yourself some instant to tide you over until he gets here."

 

Owen made a face. "No, thanks. I'll just grab some juice in a minute." A pastry on one hand and some files in the other, he came to stand behind Gwen. "Still looking into the Ed Morgan thing?"

 

She kept her eyes on the screen. "He kept telling me he knew I would come back for him someday. He must have thought I was one of his victims. There was nothing in the police reports, so I've been looking at local papers from places he lived in."

 

"Don't let it obsess you, yeah? It's hard enough to deal with the present…"

 

The alarm sounded as the cog door rolled open. "Good morning, everyone."

 

"Hey, Tosh. Pastries on the coffee table, but no coffee. Ianto isn't in yet."

 

"That's odd. He's always here before I get in."

 

"Tosh?" Jack appeared at the door to his office. "I've been trying to reach Ianto and he's not answering his phone. Could you trace him please?"

 

"Give me a minute to boot up." Tosh's hands flew over her keyboard. "He's disabled the chip, Jack. That's not like Ianto."

 

"Aren't we making too much of this?" Gwen asked hesitantly. The last thing she wanted was to get Ianto into trouble with Jack. "He probably went out with… friends or something and…"

 

The look in Jack's face silenced her. "Out with it, Gwen." He came downstairs to stand right in front of her. "Gwen, trust me on this. If you know something, you need to tell me. Now."

 

She forced it all out in a rush. "It's just that… last week, when I came out of Tom Flanagan's house, Ianto was talking to a girl, well, hugging a girl. When I asked him about her, he said she had just been asking directions. I was going to tease him a little, but he looked so unhappy that I just didn't. By the time we got back here he was his usual self, so I forgot about it. So maybe he just has a girl…"

 

"What did she look like?" Jack interrupted.

 

"Very pretty. Dark skinned, with long braids."

 

"Tosh, open an audio link to Mainframe." When she nodded to him, he continued. "Mainframe, file, vampires, document, De Cussac, Elaine, subdoc Jones, Ianto." He ignored Gwen's gasp. "Image, Lisa Hallett."

 

A girl's photo filled the monitors. "Is this her, Gwen?"

 

"Yes. And don't ask if I'm sure. That's the girl I saw."

 

"That is Lisa Hallett. She and Ianto grew up together and everyone knew they would get married as soon as they were old enough. On the evening of Lisa's sixteenth birthday, they went to a party at a friend's house. Afterwards they decided to walk home. It was only four or five blocks, what could happen?" Jack took a deep breath. "They were abducted by a band of rogue vampires mastered by one Elaine de Cussac."

 

"Oh, Mother." Gwen gasped. "I remember that. They never published the names. The girl was killed but the boy managed to escape."

 

"Ianto's medical files had some information. They kept him for six weeks. They bled him to the point of death every few days and then force-fed him to bulk him back up." Owen said. "He still has a tendency to aenemia and only eats when he absolutely has to."

 

"Dear God." Tosh was twisting her hands together. "Ianto, oh Ianto. How did he get away?"

 

Jack was silent for a quite a while. "All right. If Lisa has been Turned, and she's come for Ianto, her Master can't be too far behind. You will need to know, but before I tell you I will require from each of you a vow of silence. The kind that causes real pain if you break it." He waited until they had all recited the ancient words. "Ianto's family is very unusual. His mother is a Celtic Christian, a talented empath. His father is a descendant of the oldest unbroken Druid line in Wales."

 

"The Achlesyddion?" Gwen whispered. "Ianto is Achlesydd?"

 

"Yes. He showed talent from the time he was a baby. The highest performing clairempath ever tested by the Episcopal Court. Actually, the second of only two."

 

"That's a new one on me." Owen broke in. "Clairempath?"

 

"I'm not surprised. It crops up maybe once in two hundred years. Ianto could feel emotions from anything even remotely sentient, natural or supernatural. But was more than that. His talent extended into a kind of complete perception. The Judges thought it had to do with his father's tradition. The Achlesyddion deal in ecosystems. To Ianto's mind, each being was an ecosystem and he could understand it whole."

 

"And that changed after… what happened to him?" Gwen asked.

 

"During. He told the Judges that during one of the … feeding sessions… he felt something tear inside his mind and he fainted. When he came to, he realized that he could not only read others'emotions, he could… change them. Plant suggestions. Alter their perceptions."

 

"Cerridwen bless us and protect us. Ianto's a dark empath?"

 

Jack nodded. "In full control of his faculties. The only reason he's allowed out and about is because he's under geis."

 

"To whom?"

 

"Mother Katherine. She's one of the few strong enough."

 

"All right. So what happened after he escaped?"

 

"He led the police and the exorcists to the nest. It was destroyed completely but Elaine de Cussac managed to escape."

 

"Jack," Toshiko said. "What about Ianto's family? Would she go after them?"

 

"Toss me your cell phone, would you?" He dialed a number quickly. "Rhiannon? Yes, it's Jack. I'm sorry to wake you, but you need to get everyone to sanctuary immediately. Elaine de Cussac may be back in town…. No, he's not here, but someone will call you as soon as they can… Yes, of course I promise but get the kids safe for now, ok? I'm sending Andy over to keep you company." He disconnected and dialed another number. "Andy? I need you at Rhiannon Crandell's house. Yes, Ianto's sister. Elaine de Cussac is back in Cardiff… Yes, thanks."

 

He gave the phone back to Tosh. "Thank you. I was concentrating a little too hard on Ianto."

 

She smiled gently but knowingly at him. He smiled back. "Mynx. Now, we need to find Ianto and Lisa before we tackle Elaine."

 

"Oh, I can do that."

 

"How? The chip isn't working…"

 

"Like this." She tapped one key on her panel and they could all hear a hum as the Hub's speakers came to life. "Ianto, would you come out now? Please?"

 

They stared at her as if she had taken leave of her senses, but the sound of footsteps on the catwalk make them all look up.

 

"I'm sorry, Jack. I'm sorry. But I couldn't think of anywhere else to go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to my Welsh lexicon, _achlesyddion_ means "protectors"


	3. Chapter 3

Ianto sat on the edge of the sofa, Lisa's hand in his. It was icy. _Of course it's icy, you twpsyn_ , the realist part of him snapped. _She's dead_. He pushed the thought away and held on tighter. They could get through this, one way or another. _And if there's no cure, you'll spend your life taking care of her until you cut off her head or let her Turn you out of sheer desperation_.

 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Control. For both their sakes, he couldn't afford to lose control.

 

"Tosh, how did you know we were here?"

 

"I didn't. Mainframe did." She came as close as she could without disobeying Jack's orders. "The sensor registered one extra heartbeat and two brainwave patterns."

 

"I can be detected by machinery?" Lisa asked. "I thought… People can't even see my reflection."

 

"That's a bias of the human eye," Toshiko said. "A brainwave pattern is the product of a normal biological function. Sensors can't tell anything about who is generating it. Just that it's there."

 

"And this place has many sensors?"

 

Tosh laughed. "There's so many I don't even know where they all are."

 

"I was going to be a technologist," Lisa said sadly. "My mum is a healer. We'd spend hours talking about the machines doctors needed. I was going to build them for her."

 

"After this is all over, maybe you can get back to it," Tosh said. "Cardiff University has some terrific programs."

 

Lisa smiled at her. "Maybe. It's nice to think about, anyway."

 

While Lisa and Tosh talked, Ianto had been watching Gwen. She was sitting on the steps to Owen's greenhouse, as far away from them as she could and still be within shooting distance. Her face was pale and strained, and she was breathing in short, shallow gasps.

 

"Tosh," he said quietly. "Maybe Owen should take a look at Gwen."

 

"I asked, but she says she'll be all right. It's just that…" Tosh made an apologetic little gesture. "The unquiet dead."

 

Ianto flinched. In his panic to get Lisa to a safe place he had forgotten what it would do to Gwen to have a vampire near by.

 

"Unquiet dead?" Lisa asked. "Ianto…"

 

"Gwen is a medium," he said as gently as he could. "A vampire's kills stay close to it, the same way it wants to stay close to its nest."

 

"Oh. Oh. I'm sorry." She hid her face on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

 

He stroked her back. "It'll be all right, Lisa." _No, it won't. Dear God, what have I done?_

 

"This was a mistake," he told Tosh. "As soon as it's dark I'll take Lisa away. My family has some land near Ystradgynlais. It has a hill fort on top of a warren of caves. We can hide there for months if we have to."

 

"That won't be possible."

 

Jack's voice sounded even colder than Lisa's skin felt. Ianto turned to see him emerge from one of the tunnels that led down into the lower levels. He was drenched in sweat, as if he had been running for miles; under his arm he carried a long package covered in burlap. Behind him, Owen had the disoriented look Ianto had often seen in the eyes of people who survived an encounter with things beyond the Veil.

 

He opened his senses a little and encountered a closed door. Jack had severed their connection. The pain that sliced through him was worse than anything he had endured at Elaine de Cussac's hands. _What did I expect? I brought a monster into his home. I deserve whatever he decides to do_.

 

"It's the best thing," he said evenly. "Elaine will come after us and that will give you a chance to move against her."

 

"Elaine won't move until she knows she can have a clear shot at keeping you alive. "Jack retorted. "And Lisa is her best way of doing that."

 

"What are you talking about? Lisa ran away from her!"

 

"Really? Do you have any idea what Elaine de Cussac does to her get? How she controls them? Lisa was a sixteen-year-old girl when she was Turned. Do you really believe she could overcome Elaine's conditioning?"

 

"Don't do this Jack," he pleaded. "I know you're angry, but don't do this to me. This is Lisa, she wouldn't…"

 

"She has." Gwen stepped closer. "I'm sorry Ianto, but she has. The dead say she's been communicating with her Master all along."

 

"No! You lie!"

 

"You don't have to believe me. Tosh's brainwave detector will show it. Ianto…"

 

They were all taken by surprise as Lisa moved with the speed of her kind. She lunged out of Ianto's arms, reaching Gwen before any of them could even think of moving. Grabbing Gwen by the throat, she whirled to place her between herself and the others. Her eyes became dark pools and her fangs dropped.

 

"If you move, I will drain her. Do you understand me?"

 

"Lisa!" Ianto started towards her. "What are you doing? Why?"

 

"Stop right there." She started to drop her head to Gwen's neck and Ianto halted immediately. "Good. What am I doing? Getting you for my Master. Bringing you to us. To me."

 

"I won't do it."

 

"You will. Once you taste what she can give you, you will. There's so much power. So much we can have."

 

"I have had a taste of Elaine's power. There's nothing she can offer me that I will accept."

 

"Do you think your lover will protect you? Surprised? Did you think I couldn't smell him on you? Or you on him? You love me! You're supposed to love only me!" She started dragging Gwen backwards towards the medical area. "My Master will be here after nightfall. Your little medium and I will wait for her inside here. And if you try anything, there are things I can do to her that will keep her in agony for hours."

 

Ianto felt as if his world had collapsed. It had been so easy, so easy, for Lisa to fool him. He looked at his former colleagues, saw the looks of pity in Owen and Tosh's faces, the deliberate blankness of Jack's. There was nothing he could say, no excuse he could give. He started to speak to Jack, but at that moment Jack's cell phone rang. He answered it, listened briefly, and then ended the call.

 

"That was Brother Alaric at St. Teilo's. Your family is safely in sanctuary."

 

"Thank God."

 

"Yes." He paused. "Andy's missing. Brother Alaric has seen some people loitering about the monastery that didn't seem the usual kind. Dressed in black and heavy makeup."

 

"Vampire groupies. They were the ones who grabbed us." Ianto rubbed his eyes with clenched fists. "What do you want me to do?"

 

"You know."

 

"Yes. I'll do it."

 

"Hold it." Owen nearly snarled. "What exactly are you both talking about?"

 

"Breaking my geis." Ianto said. "He wants me to take control of Lisa's mind. Don't be shocked, Owen. It's necessary and Jack always does what is necessary. No matter what it costs." He looked at the man he loved. "Do you have a way to deal with Elaine?"

 

Jack unwrapped the burlap. Inside was a short sword in a leather scabbard. The hilt was ridged, with a cap-shaped guard, and ended in a large pommel made from oak. Its only adornment was a carved and gilt Welsh dragon that held to the pommel with its claws.

 

Ianto's eyes widened. "All right. Tell me what you want me to do."


	4. Chapter 4

"Now."

 

Ianto had been waiting for Jack's order, but it still chilled him to the soul. Lisa had been right in one thing; power was his for the taking. Sometimes the temptation was overwhelming. And now he would break his vow, and be damned, and he would do it willingly. His was the sin, and his the punishment.

 

He dropped all his wards and fully opened his senses. They were all around him, and in the fashion of his father's people he classified them: delicate Toshiko, an aspen in the wind; tough Owen, a Wych elm surviving the most hostile territory; supple Gwen, a silvery beech with her roots deep in the soil of South Wales; and Jack, a mighty sassile oak, standing strong against the storms.

 

And Lisa. Tears ran down Ianto's cheeks as he saw Lisa truly for the first time and saw the thing she had become. Powerful adult minds had fractured in Elaine de Cussac's world; what could a sheltered, innocent sixteen-year-old have done? But now there was nothing there but the monster Elaine had created.

 

In a way it made it easy. Her mind had been kept in a strange half-open state, ready to receive instruction. It was child's play to go in and tweak Lisa's reality into something just slightly different.

 

"All right. Right now she believes she really did run away from Elaine because she was afraid. I can hold her for a while, but Elaine has done a great deal of… damage." He turned away from them. "Once Elaine is close enough to try to influence Lisa directly I don't know if it will hold. I've never done it, except…"

 

He felt Toshiko's hand on his back, a gentle caress that broadcast sympathy and support. He inhaled her spicy sweetness. He had bought her the perfume one year for Christmas and she had loved it so much it had become "hers" in that odd way women had of reading their personality into a scent. It made him want to curl into her lap and cry. But he couldn't touch her now. He was unclean.

 

Lisa came upstairs with Gwen, looking scared and lost. Gwen's quick nod told Ianto that she understood what was happening; well, Jack didn't hire slow tops.

 

"Ianto?"

 

"We're all right, Lisa. Jack is going to help us." He hugged her to his side and kissed the top of her head. "Let's go."

 

They emerged into a moonlit Plas. A small group of people, cloaked and masked, made a semicircle beyond the columns. In the center, a woman stood, holding a leash attached to the beaten and bloody body of a man sprawled at her feet. She was almost six feet tall, and her long red hair cascaded down her back to her waist. She wore a dress that hadn't been seen in the British Isles in a thousand years.

 

"Captain Harkness. I have wanted to meet you for a long time."

 

"I, on the other hand, could have done without ever knowing you. Let's get this over with. Your servant in exchange for mine."

 

"This?"

 

She jerked the chain. Andy's head flopped back. Ianto could see one of his eyes had been nearly torn out of his socket, and the lower left side of his face had caved in. This was also his responsibility.

 

"Yes."

 

"Only if I get Ianto also."

 

"Why?"

 

"Don't play the naïf, Captain, it doesn't become you. His power will keep him alive for another thousand years. I want him."

 

Jack shrugged. "You can have him. But I warn you, he betrays masters and lovers with equal ease."

 

"I'll deal with that. Trade?"

 

"Trade."

 

She kicked at Andy. "Go to your master, dog."

 

Andy started crawling across the Plas. Ianto waited a minute then started towards him, dragging Lisa along with him. He knew the moment the glamour he had cast on Lisa's mind banished. She started to struggle.

 

"It's a trap, Master! It's a trap!"

 

Ianto threw himself sideways, pulling her along with him into the shadows. At the same time the lights in the Plas flared up. Tosh had set them to mimic daylight. The screams of the vampires could be heard as the lights washed the columns in pure white. Then the lights died down and the Plas was again illuminated only by moonlight.

 

"Elaine de Cussac!" Jack's voice sounded a challenge in the sudden darkness. "Leave. Leave us alone and do not return here. There's nothing here for you."

 

"I think not, Jack Harkness." The master vampire replied in similar tones. "I think I will end this here and now and take my prizes with me after I have killed you."

 

She threw off her cloak and raised her arms. "I am Elaine, daughter of kings. I bring the storm and the lightning."

 

Thunderheads built behind her as she chanted. The water in the bay hissed and reared as the wind whipped around the columns. The sound of ghostly footsteps thundered across the flagstone. Gwen moaned and covered her ears.

 

"This is who I am, Jack Harkness. This is what I bring. Show yourself!"

 

"I am Jack, of the Harkness clan in the land of Dumfries. I come to stand for the land. And this I bring. Caledfwlch, the sword of kings. And the red dragon of Wales to guard my steps."

 

He brought the sword out from under his coat. As the moonlight caught the blade it seemed to catch on fire. Elaine screamed and covered her eyes. Above her, Myfanwy screeched a challenge.

 

"Now, coward, let's end this." Jack mocked. "So afraid that you couldn't even issue a challenge in your own name. Or is it because you know the land disowned you a thousand years ago?"

 

"It can't be! I buried it with him!"

 

He laughed. "It's in the nature of a loan, vampire. I went to his house and asked nicely."

 

She cowered as he approached. Some of her band tried to run to her side, but they were met by a hail of bullets from Owen, Tosh, and Gwen. The others ran into the dark streets beyond the Plas. Ianto struggled to control Lisa who fought him with all her strength. The master vampire tried to run too but it was as if the ground itself held her in place. The sword swung in a mighty arc and her head rolled onto the flagstones. Ianto felt Lisa's body shudder as her scream nearly shattered his eardrums. He rolled away from her.

 

Jack dropped the sword and ran towards Andy. "Owen!"

 

The doctor was already there, kneeling at Andy's head. "He's in bad shape, Jack. Move away, ok? Your energy is not in a good place right now. Tosh, come hold him."

 

Placing his hands on Andy's chest, he began his examination. At each point of injury he smoothed and straightened and joined; Ianto could see the bones resetting and the skin closing with each pass of Owen's hands. Finally, the Doctor sat back, shivering. "He'll live. Jack, watch out!"

 

Jack whirled around in time to see Lisa pick up the sword and give it to Ianto. He took it before he realized what she was asking. "Lisa, no."

 

"My mind is free for the very first time in years, Ianto. I know what I am. Please."

 

"Don't ask him to carry the guilt." Jack said. "There's a better way." He pointed upwards. "I can summon her to you. Dragon fire cleanses all, even sin. And it is quick."

 

She pushed Jack in Ianto's direction. "Take him."

 

Jack dragged Ianto away as Myfanwy wheeled and then plunged, throat arching upwards and then down. A tongue of flame burst from between her jaws and washed over Lisa as she stood waiting, a smile on her lips. She threw her arms up as if to embrace her executioner. In a few seconds, there was nothing on the Plas but a very small pile of white ash.

 

Ianto fell to his knees, offering Jack the sword, pommel first. "I do not deserve cleansing, but I do have the right to ask that you do this yourself."

 

Jack lifted the sword. As he did, a bell rung somewhere distant, almost like an echo. Tosh and Owen tried to run towards them, but Gwen pulled them back, pointing at the red glow that washed across the sky. Slowly, Jack brought the sword to touch Ianto's neck, flat resting on the bone. Another bell joined the first, and then another.

 

"Jack, no," Ianto whispered. "Don't do this."

 

"Ianto Jones, do you accept me as your liege lord?" When Ianto didn't answer, jack pushed the blade just a little closer to the artery. "Ianto Jones, do you accept me as your liege lord?"

 

Ianto wanted to scream denial, but the words wouldn't come. Finally he bent his head in submission. "I accept you, Jack Harkness, as my liege lord. I am your vassal, of life and limb, to the end of my days. And may God have mercy on my soul."

 

As the sword tapped gently against his shoulder, he wept.


End file.
